Fall of Darkseid
by Moonsetta
Summary: Practice with writing fighting scenes. Nightwing vs. Darkseid for the fate of the Trinity. Ending and alternate ending POSTED!
1. Night Fall

Just a practice writing exercise of a fighting scene.

I don't own Nightwing, Darkseid, Batman, etc...

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><p>NEVER.<p>

No. It just, wasn't like this.

He really shouldn't be here…

And he knows it.

Billions of light years away a planet called Krypton was destroyed and it's last son saved by the love of his parents, who he never knew. That infant became Superman. He became the world's greatest superhero.

And a fun challenge for the bullet headed golem known as Darkseid.

So how Dick found himself dodging the giant's humongous stone fists that were being thrown at him, he didn't really know.

The fist came down and Nightwing jumped back, turning to his side to throw a smoke bomb. Of course, this was stupid decision number-wait, what number was he on now? Smoke bombs were for _escaping_.

Point blank range of commonality, you did not escape this, unless you were Superman and the golem felt like torturing you for no specific reason for a prolonged amount of time.

The smoke did little to distract the evil conqueror, and the protector of Bludhaven city threw himself to the side as a foot tried to impound his skull. Yeah, that would have been nasty. Nightwing took the opportunity of the shock and lashed out with his ecrisma sticks, striking the giant across the face as he flew over him and landed far enough away that the brute's next fist didn't hit him when the monster swung around to face him. He jumped to the right, bending backwards to avoid another swinging fist, before hopping onto the arm that had just been trying to clothesline him and landing a kick to the side of Darkseid's face.

The opposite force gave him enough power to propel himself backwards as the giant reached up to crush his skull.

Wow, Blockbuster was nothing compared to this freak, though Nightwing's own, outside-his-city adventures did often show strange enough instances and creatures of mis-thought.

In the background, the hero could hear the rattling of three sets of chains, one set too strong for mortal man, another fused to the bracelets of an Amazon princess and the last made of pure kryptonite.

"Nightwing!"

The cry came in time for him to dodge the foot that was surely to have knocked his stomach out and away from his body all in the same moment.

OK, here was the layout as far as he understood it. He had gotten a call from Alfred first, Batman hadn't returned to Gotham in a few days, Troia had called him looking for Diana and "Clark Kent," they were saying, had been away on a vacation retreat. On a reporter's salary? Right.

How he had ended up here, he couldn't really take the time to remember at the moment as the conquerer straitened and his eyes began glowing.

Crap! Just what he needed to deal with, Darkseid's Omega Beams!

While he jumped towards the nearest rock formation, up and up and side to side and over and up again he thought of the possibility of Superman gaining heat seeking heat vision. Now wouldn't that be weird.

After a few precious seconds of bouncing off the numerous rock formations surrounding them and plunging one of his ecrisma sticks down towards the brute when air borne, the Omega Beams faded from the surrounding space. OK, this time he had to thank his parents for the flexibility and for the current stimulants that his body was running on, due to the highly carbon monoxide atmosphere on this deserted space rock Darkseid had claimed as his own, future kingdom, that thanks went to Dr. Langstrom

He jumped sideways again just before the ground that was once beneath him caved in under the bullet-headed monster.

For a second Dick Grayson thought of the hilarity of the situation, here he was fighting a living antique-store-rip-off stone statue dressed in a black mini skirt.

"Excellent, you are living up to your predecessor's name."

Right. Nightwing, the legend, had been Kryptonian. Of course Darkseid would recognize the name, though if wasn't clear yet that he was purely human-like his mentor.

-Speaking of which.

Looking back at the strange alter that the dark conqueror had summoned from beneath the ground, the Trinity was still suffering. At the moment it was rather sad for the male race. There was Superman, suffering under the power of Kryptonite and Batman gasping as his lungs tried to take in the small amount of air that was barely contained in the planetoid's miniscule and thin atmosphere.

Crap!

-And he almost got shot with those Omega Beams again!

"Impressive, very impressive. Your mentor only escaped my Omega Beams once."

Nightwing gritted his teeth, remembering the shock the family had received at hearing of Bruce's supposed 'death' at the hands of this monster. Of course, it only came to Nightwing's mind that his opponent was deliberately trying to make him angry when the giant fist grabbed his left leg before he could jump back from a lashing from the giant stone fist. Of course, the brute only had to use a small percentage of his strength to completely shatter the femur bone within his grasp.

They say the worst pain a human can endure is having the femur bone cracked in half.

-And if it shatters in milliseconds?

Nightwing's vision swam into dark waters as he felt himself being pulled. Well, maybe he had a few more moments to review how he'd gotten here in the first place. He felt his foot being held in the stone grasp as he tried to focus past the pain in his leg that was literally killing him and concentrate on his memory of the phone call he had gotten from the original Wonder Girl.

A light beyond his eyelids was glowing, irritating a headache to full migraine degrees. His ecrisma sticks were sill in his hands. He lashed out blinding and then-

All was a black hole.

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><p>~Moonsetta<p> 


	2. Empty Time

"So what do we do?"

The question came out of the silence of the medical lab from the Princess of Paradise Island, Diana, AKA, Wonder Woman.

The Galactic Officer, John Stewart, AKA, Green Lantern looked up at her sharply due to the break of the silence and then his eyes lowered again to the prone form they were watching over.

"I don't know, he should-"

The Guardian's response was cut off as the door to the room slid back with a sound that was half a screech and half a hiss.

"Bruce," Diana spoke softly.

The Dark Knight of Gotham city silenced her with a glare before his eyes landed on the form that was unconscious on the bed between the other heroes.

Nightwing laid still, as silent as the air in the room.

"You're almost betraying a sign of worry," Wonder Woman pointed out.

Batman ignored the comment and walked towards the prone form.

"Like father, like son," Green Lantern muttered as he moved back to make room.

He received a sharp glare for it and held up his hands, "I'm just saying, you shoot Darkseid with an Omega bullet and he drives ecrisma sticks through his eyes."

"I know, I was there," cue the Bat-Glare.

John looked away and muttered, "I've got monitor duty."

The Galactic Officer left the room quickly. Meanwhile, Batman looked over the machines, taking note of the barely existent heart and respiration rates they showed.

"He defeated Darkseid, you should be proud," Diana said suddenly.

The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes and turned away from the unconscious Nightwing and worried Amazon before speaking very lowly, "Why be proud when he won't live?"

Wonder Woman's eyes grew in alarm, stepping forward quickly to reach over the bed and grab Batman's arm, "Bruce, you can't believe that. He's strong. Just because-"

"He was breathing a highly concentrated mixture of carbon monoxide with low levels of oxygen while fighting."

"He'll get through this."

Batman jerked away from her hand before glancing back at Nightwing for only a moment. Fixing his eyes on the wall next to the door he curled his hands into fists and began walking towards the exit, his voice ringing back with the darkness he represented.

"He's dieing, and no one, can do anything."

The silence returned to the room much more easily than it had been broken. Diana didn't have the energy to break it once again, especially since she was now alone. She leaned against the wall next to the bed and allowed her eyes to examine the hero she once new as the little, young Boy Wonder. Bruce had so much happier back then…

Dick's hair was dusted with debris, his skin reddened by numerous scratches, a mask covered pale, unmoving lips and a thick wrap of bandages was hiding his throat, the rest of him was hidden beneath the light green sheet he had been covered with. It had been only a few hours since the trinity had been found by the Lantern Corps and pulled from the dangerous and enormous black hole, which had come from the disintegrating body of the conqueror.

Hopefully, Darkseid was gone for good.

Diana's eyes noticed the red stain on the throat of their…dieing patient and closed her eyes. After rushing Nightwing here and making sure everything was in order, Batman had retreated to the communications lab for, who knows what. Superman surprised everyone with a disappearing act.

It was kind of ironic, now the Dark Knight was running around the Watchtower, checking systems, managing others, overlooking expansion construction and then Superman, Man of Steel, had flown back to earth, towards the Fortress of Solitude. Batman was everywhere, doing anything he could, unknowingly helping others and Superman had run away to brood.

The irony of it bit at the Amazon's stomach quite painfully and she swallowed before getting to her feet once again. She reluctantly headed for the door, glancing back for prolonged moments every few seconds until she had both feet nearly cemented into place outside the room. She stood there, ignoring other heroes as they walked by, many throwing looks towards the door behind the Amazon, only the founding members were allowed inside unless a founder gave any hero access. The far galaxy satellite probes launched by the Watchtower's location coordinating system, which had been activated upon the news of the absent Trinity, had picked up the battle.

Footsteps down the hallway got louder to Wonder Woman until her downward eyes caught the strips of purple fastenings across black boots. Her head snapped up and she found herself staring into the eyes of Huntress. Given she had been in the League before, she was running a recon for the Bat-Clan.

"Any signs?" Helena asked quietly, although she knew it was an unnecessary precaution at the moment.

Before Diana could answer, another voice invaded their conversation.

"You should be in Gotham."

Huntress' eyes widened momentarily before narrowing and turning them to the side along with her head to stare at the darkly cloaked figure. He hadn't been gone for long…

"The whole bunch of us Bats are here, I'm the only one they'll let out of the cafeteria."

Batman narrowed his eyes as he moved away from the shadows of the hallway, "Then you all will return to Gotham."

"Now listen here you! I-"

"NOW!"

Helena straitened up in tired surprised, breathed out a long breath and said a quick goodbye to Wonder Woman before leaving the hallway, which was suddenly cleared and avoided by all other heroes.

"You said it yourself Bruce, your son is dieing."

"He's not my son."

"I don't think it matters, that it ever mattered at all. Not to him."

"You're on monitor duty in 3 minutes, I suggest you get going."

Diana frowned in anger and quickly vacated the hallway, leaving the Dark Knight to stare at the closed door in loud, ringing silence. It took 45 seconds, too long in his opinion, to step back through the door. The door nearly screeched closed behind him and stared across the room at his previous partner's unmoving body. A quick glance at the machines revealed low, machine driven heart and breathing rates. Bruce's eyes fell to the hero's face, glad that his mask was still on, he wouldn't have been able to look the young one in the eyes. The eyes rocketed away from the prone form and landed on the control pad by the door, which a black gloved hand was raised to quickly, pressing down keys without restraint or resistance.

Perhaps, as the tale draws to a close, that the Dark Knight felt sorrow or perhaps he hid it away as his fingers keyed in the last code, shutting the machines down for good.

A shrill beep sounded out.

No heartbeat.

No breath.

He had monitored brainwaves for the last hour with a wireless device that he alone had access to…

They had ceased twenty minutes ago.

He had lied, Nightwing hadn't been dieing, he had already been dead.

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><p>If I don't get assigned a paper, the alternate ending will be posted within 48 hours.<p>

Thank you.

~Moonsetta


	3. Alt Ending: Legends Part 1

The alternate ending.

This will consist of two parts. This one was my original idea but I didn't want to publish it because it was kind of 'out there' and what not.

How did this come from practice writing a fighting scene?

I think I'll do some more practice fighting scenes for the Dynamic Duo soon.

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><p>There was wind, rocks, debris and the collapsing atmosphere was revealing the light of the distant white sun.<p>

Superman would find it almost funny later. He didn't think Darkseid knew how to scream so loudly as when the ecrisma sticks released tendrils of electricity, the bolts of the miniature lightning dancing across the cosmic dimensional energy that resided in the goliath's Omega Beams.

The worst pain a human can endure is having their femur bone cracked in half. Nightwing's had been shattered and as the man battled with the pain, he found himself a bit grateful when the maniac punched out at him, sending him flying into the foundation of the altar where the Trinity was still bound. Stone broke under his impact and the altar creaked like an old house as the monster some distance away from them continued to scream.

Then he stopped as his body seemed to fade as his eyes appeared to explode. There was a cliché bright light that blinded the three captors for a moment and they missed the transformation as an non-human body was twisted in every which way. When the three managed to reopen their eyes they spotted the second peril of their evening.

Where Darkseid once stood was a small ring of expanding dark energy.

Batman was the first to notice that the atmosphere was growing thinner. If his hands weren't chained above his head he could've, long ago, reached for the oxygen mask in his utility belt and something else to help them all escape. He hated villains that were intelligent! Superman looked up towards the white glow in the distance. If his chains weren't embedded with kryptonite he could get them all out of there.

All of their current thoughts were cut off when the small, floating pool of dark energy snapped out as if it were a rubber band.

It was an expanding, black hole.

The Dark Knight let out a choked gasp and the two metahumans looked to him in feared worry.

About to ask for any suggestions, Superman opened his mouth to yell over the noise that was being made as tumbling rocks and boulders went flying into the black hole, but the altar suddenly gave way from it's foundation with a snap of stone on stone and cut him off. They lurched forward and then stopped as the black hole's gravity continued to fight to pull the structure in.

That's when the Man of Steel heard a small gasp of intense pain that didn't belong to his chained companions.

"Nightwing!"

"Clark if that blow didn't kill him he _has _to be dieing!" Wonder Woman yelled.

What was the alien thinking, getting up from that as a human was-

Her thoughts were cut off when a blue striped black glove appeared at the edge of the slowly inching forward altar. It took too long but the youngest hero had fought his way back to consciousness, trying to mentally convince himself that he had just hit that 'funny bone' in his arm and also not to look at the multiple shattered pieces of bone that were sticking out of his thigh, and he managed to pull himself up onto the stone platform. He could only see blurs-

Nightwing gasped and reached for the hidden compartment beneath his left glove. Out came two newly designed versions of his mentor's batarangs.

Dumb luck be with him-please.

Once again, the kryptonian-legend-named human struck out blindly, inwardly praying as he threw the objects at the chains holding Superman. In turn, the Man of Steel felt hopeless, if Wonder Woman hadn't been able to break the chains then how could a simple Batarang hope to-

Once again, his mind was silenced as the objects exploded on impact and splattered a grey, plasma-like substance onto the chains. Wait, he recognized that-

It was lead, the heavy metal that could block kryptonite's radiation!

The lead hardened quickly, blocking out the green glow of the harmful space rocks. Superman smiled and gripped the chains once again.

They shattered under his strength. He saw Nightwing smile once before the young hero finally collapsed onto the stone platform. The Man of Steel sped over to his best friend and ripped the chains away. Trying to remain standing, Batman reached for his utility belt and withdrew an oxygen mask that he quickly slapped over his face. He didn't give his head and vision much time to clear. They would have to escape the black hole and it's pull was nearly lifting him off of his feet, so-

He rushed forward and grabbed his former protégé's hand as the gravity of the black hole had tried to pull him into it. They were NOT dieing here! The Dark Knight pulled his student back towards Superman, who had managed to use his heat vision to solder through the smelted metal of her bracelets.

"Let's get out of here!" Wonder Woman shouted.

The men nodded, Batman looking away only long enough to reach for his spare oxygen mask and slip it over Nightwing's face. The Amazon grabbed the Dark Knight's hand and the Man of Steel scooped up the unconscious Nightwing.

When they had escaped the black hole, they took off at the fastest pace towards the watchtower. The had to stop that black hole before it encased Mercury! The League would have its hands full.

Distraction allowing for the moment, Batman looked over at his student.

Even with the oxygen mask, the boy wasn't breathing right.

TBC…

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><p>Part 2 of "Legends" within three days.<p>

~Moonsetta


	4. Alt Ending: Legends Part 2

I know, this is late. Let's just say life's gone downhill recently, it's a long story that I don't want to bore you with and I have to move across town. AGAIN.

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><p>In the quiet of a small medical room, a sudden whosh! interrupted the tapping of gloved fingertips on a keyboard. White masked eyes glanced up towards the door as a red blur rushed into the room.<p>

"Flash."

"Hey Bats."

The Scarlet Speedster stopped on a dime as the door slid closed behind him. Across the room from him, Gotham's Dark Knight, glared, the exact same punishment he had been giving anyone who had come into the room in the past 24 hours. The red clad hero threw up his hands in response.

"Hey, I ain't planning to bother him. Superman's doing enough bragging for an army of him."

Batman narrowed his eyes, taking in every detail about the doorway, listening closely for any noises outside the door before his eyes turned to the other hero that was occupying the room, but this one, on a medical bed. On the blue sheet covered, thin bed was the Dark Knight's first protege.

Nightwing lay there, broken and bloody.

The Gotham hero turned his eyes away quickly, enough time just to observe that the younger hero's hair was still matted with blood and behind his eyelids, there was no movement. Shoving it off the mental cliff of his brain, the eldest hero returned to his work, typing out on a small computer nearby. Truthfully, it wasn't what one expected. The device actually controlled the machines hooked up to the suffering hero. All in all there were two oxygen masks hooked up to six oxygen tanks, a defibulator nearby that they had had to resort to earlier to restart the heart, an Electroencephalogram was showing near flat activity, a heart monitor showed a normal, but low normal, heart rate, blood pressure was dangerously low and all systems that were being monitored were keeping up with the help from the drugs and machines, which had to be installed and injected when the younger hero's systems had begun failing some 40 minutes ago.

"Any improvement in the kid?" the speedster asked, reaching up and pulling back the cowl that hid his identity, revealing a mess of blonde hair.

The Dark Knight said nothing and the Flash belittled his hopes then and there.

"The Black Hole?" Batman asked.

"Oh yeah, Wonder Woman, Superman and the lanterns were able to close it, and put Mercury back."

"Darkseid?"

"No sign of him."

The red and lightning bolt themed hero glanced over at the once Boy Wonder and sighed, "We're all hoping he comes out OK."

Silence. The speedster let a worried frown mar his face as he looked at the suffering hero. He should call Wally.

With that thought in his head, the red cowl went back over his head and face before the blur vanished out the door. Safely in a sound proof room, the Dark Knight let out a breath that was as close to a sigh as he would ever make. He turned from the machines and let his eyes roam to his student's face.

OK, your student goes, saves you, the Amazonian princess of Paradise Island, and the Man of Steel from a demi-god, battles said demi-god, wins and suffers life threatening injuries.

Deep breath. So what do you do next?

Batman got to his feet and walked the small space that separated the console from the machines, which was inlaid with numerous wires and tubes. He stood before the one who-

"Huh? Uh, where am I?"

The last four steps he would have taken at a normal pace, were taken in one.

"Dick?"

Blue eyes turned as a mop of onyx hair swept over the white pillow before they landed on the speaker. A black gloved hand landed on the acrobat's shoulder and he smiled.

"Knew we'd make it out of there."

Silence met his statement.

Blue eyes of pain tolerance morphed into ones of curiosity as they turned up and met the ones of his mentor.

"What's wrong Bruce?"

Silence. What do you say?

We had to restart your heart twice?

Good job?

You were dieing?

You technically shouldn't be alive?

What possessed you to do something so ignorant!

All the words in Bruce's mind dissipated just as they reached his tongue, but finally he found some words to speak.

"How much pain are you in?"

Pale lips mashed together painfully as the younger was reminded of the pain coursing through his limbs, bones, muscles, insides, blood, hair, toenails; EVERYTHING hurt!

Not like Bruce needed to worry about it that much though.

Dick forced a smile onto his face and through a shaken breath muttered, "There's a 5,000 between 1 and 10, right?"

Batman reached up and pulled off his cowl, the eyes on the younger were now those of his guardian, not just his teacher, and this guardian did NOT like this. Cue the dissapointed frown and look. In response, the Kryptonian themed hero lost his strong facade and whimpered as his heart gave a sudden leap in it's beating rate, near trying to jump from his chest. The black gloved hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Come on. Use what I've taught you."

Right. The mental techniques. Which would have been more effective if the drugs designed to keep him alive weren't keeping him from focusing to use those techniques.

In response to the partial focus he DID have, Nightwing switched back and forth to different techniques.

The pain...

Some from Bruce, some of his own, some learned abroad and even some he remembered under Deathstroke's tutalege. Bruce took an extremely discreet deep breath and removed his hand.

"Dick I-"

Deep breathing.

Blue eyes widened. He had fallen asleep!

"..."

Since no one was around to see, Bruce smiled the smallest degree and reached to pull his cowl back on. He'd have to wait another hour before most of the heroes in the Tower were either gone or asleep, but he'd get his boy home tonight.

Away from the Superhero poparazzi that was sure to rise soon.

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><p>~Moonsetta<p> 


End file.
